Upon picking up a copy of The State News, I was confused by what I saw on the front page.

The article "Shake, battle & roll" (SN 4/03) had me asking myself: Was Elizabeth Swanson at the same Battle of the Bands I attended Friday?

I couldn't help but wonder about the intentions of this incredibly biased article. This article is centered solely on the band Bad Mamma Jamma, despite the fact that they did not even place in the top three bands.

Don't get me wrong, I watched Bad Mamma Jamma's performance, and I really enjoyed it. They have a funky and energetic sound, not common among many younger bands today.

Although Bad Mamma Jamma is certainly deserving of the recognition, there were 10 other bands in the competition that worked equally hard and "love music" just as much as the members of Bad Mamma Jamma.

Even the pictures on the front page demonstrate this unfair bias, with two large pictures of Bad Mamma Jamma and none of any other band. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

I understand that in journalism, finding an angle is important. However, the angle that Swanson took was completely irresponsible and one-sided. I find it funny that she took it upon herself to discredit the judges' decision, as if her opinion is much more valuable.

Swanson's article not only discredited the judges but also indirectly insulted the bands that placed above Bad Mamma Jamma by portraying them as undeserving. The only other band even mentioned in the article was the winning band (in a few sentences at the very end).

She did not even bother to mention the second and third place bands, which also received prize money from Elderly Instruments.

I don't think that The State News is an appropriate place for Swanson's immature favoritism. She needs to do her job and leave the rhetoric out of our paper.

Anna Burch
English freshman